Pewabic Ingot Side | PEWABIC COPPER INGOT - Copper ingot from Michigan's Upper Peninsula; ingot weighs approximately 12 pounds, 9 1/2 L x 3 W x 2 1/2 H in.; stamped with the PW designation for Pewabic, LTS for the Lake Superior Transit Company, and MC for Mining Company. (The Pewabic Mine is an underground copper mine located north of Hancock, MI, and just north of the Quincy Mine on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In 1853 the Pewabic Mining Company was formed by eastern capitalists who controlled a tract of ground on the
north end of the Quincy property. For the first two years, work concentrated on opening prehistoric mining pits that traced an apparent amygdaloid bed that was subsequently named the Pewabic lode. The first, and only, shaft Pewabic drove was driven on an incline following this bed. The shaft was located approximately 1,900 ft. north of the Quincy #2 shaft. The mineralization on the Pewabic lode at the Pewabic Mine was not as rich as it was on Quincy's property. However, the company did manage to pay dividends amounting to $1 million. The Pewabic Mining Company, when originally organized,
had a thirty-year charter from the state of Michigan. Company officials allowed the charter to lapse in 1883, and in 1884 the mine ceased operations. In 1891, Quincy Mining Co. purchased the property for $710,000 and renamed the shaft Quincy #6, which became famous for its fabulous shafthouse. This was the start of expansion and consolidation for the Quincy Mining Company that would eventually lead to
control of the entire Pewabic lode. A total of approximately 27 million lbs. of refined copper was produced between 1855 and 1884 by the Pewabic Mining Co. Part of that copper production was aboard the Civil War-era steamer Pewabic carrying a valuable cargo of copper from Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula mines on August 9, 1865. The name Pewabic for the mining company, lode and steamer is an Ojibway Indian word meaning “copper or iron-bearing mineralized formation.” Her cargo consisted of copper ingots from four mines (Quincy Mining Co., Hancock Mine, Pewabic Mining Co., and the Franklin Mine), a quantity of barrel copper (chiseled from a large mass of native copper), and several large pieces of mass copper weighing up to 16,000 pounds each all intended for the eastern factories producing sheathing for ship bottoms, boiler plates for locomotives, spikes, tubing, wiring, coins and even buttons among other things. The total copper cargo approached 270 tons. In addition she was also carrying 179 tons of specular hematite (iron ore) from the Marquette area. At sunset on Aug. 9, 1865, Pewabic collided almost bows-on with her sister ship, Meteor, and sank quickly in 180 feet of water. With the loss of 125 lives, the sinking is counted among the 10 worst ship disasters in Great Lakes history. The accident occurred about six miles off Thunder Bay Island lighthouse in Lake Huron. Pewabic was southbound from Sault Sainte Marie on her way to Detroit. Meteor was northbound. The vessels were merely 20 feet apart when Pewabic veered suddenly. Meteor's bow cut deeply into Pewabic's port side, just aft of the wheelhouse. Built in 1863 by Peck & Masters at Cleveland, Pewabic was powered by twin steam engines that turned 8-foot wooden propellers. The 200-foot vessel had a beam of 31 feet. Her oak hull was 2 feet thick and was strengthened by a wooden arch running down the centerline. Wooden propeller ships, introduced on the Great Lakes in 1841, became popular for carrying bulk cargo. By 1850, there were more than 50 of them. Pewabic and Meteor were constructed for the Pioneer line of the Lake Superior Transit Co., operated by John T. Whiting. Salvage operations for the valuable cargo took place on and off for over 100 years. Currents were extremely treacherous in the crash site area and prior to 1900, at least 10 divers died on the wreck. Nevertheless, most of the copper was eventually recovered and shipped to the eastern factories. The ingot shown here is one of the rare few that was salvaged but saved through recovery efforts in 1974 by the Busch Oceanographic Equipment Co. It remains an historic piece of copper mining history from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.)